1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a programmable personal monitoring system including a base receiver unit with a user control interface and a plurality of remote sensor units, for monitoring conditions existing within personal living, working or medical quarters and, more particularly, to a such a programmable personal monitoring system which includes a number of wireless remote self-powered transmitters each capable of transmitting distinct coded signals to a single base unit which has a voice interface and telephonic autodial communications capability with a central monitoring station.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Distress or alert situations requiring quick response times in order to avert possibly unfavorable outcomes occur with fair regularity. Situations of this type typically include fire alerts, urgent medical situations, security breaches, etc. In certain medical situations, as well as other distress or alarm situations, an affected person, especially an incapacitated or elderly person, may be limited in his or her ability to summon help. Places such as hospital wards or nursing homes often experience urgent medical situations requiring prompt attention as a matter of course. Likewise, in a fire alarm or a security breach situation, persons affected by these situations may be unaware of the impending circumstances at an early enough time to mitigate the outcome. Consequently, it is sometimes desirable to provide additional devices beyond common communication systems to assist in minimizing or averting alert situations, or to provide a sense of increased safety.
Systems which are responsive to personal distress or emergency situations are known. A number of such systems monitor remote transmitters carried by individuals, which send out alarm or distress signals from remote locations to a central location or base unit. Applications for these kind of systems have included monitoring medical patients, prisoners, outdoor sports enthusiasts, convalescent home residents and the like. Such systems are disclosed in the following patents:
______________________________________ No. U.S. Pat. No. Inventor(s) ______________________________________ 1. 4,603,410 Welling 2. 4,524,243 Imran 3. 4,675,656 Narcisse 4. 4,819,860 Hargrove et al 5. 4,827,943 Bornn et al 6. 4,908,602 Reich et al 7. 4,918,432 Pauley et al 8. 4,951,029 Severson 9. 4,952,928 Carroll et al 10. 4,999,613 Williamson et al 11. 5,045,839 Ellis et al 12. 5,086,391 Chambers ______________________________________
An illustrative system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,602 issued to Reich et al. That patent discloses a personal emergency response (PER) system which includes a central station and one or more remote subscriber stations, where each remote subscriber station includes a portable transmitting device. The central station can be any appropriate facility such as a hospital, fire department, or monitoring service which will provide assistance to an alarm condition. The subscriber station automatically summons help by activating the portable transmitter. The transmitter sends a radio transmission, or other suitable transmission such as infrared or ultrasonic transmissions, which is received by a subscriber unit, and which in turn automatically contacts the central station. The communications link between the central station and the subscriber station can be by any appropriate technique, and typically is telephone communication lines.
Although the basic concept of a personal response system is known in a number of variations designed for different purposes, there is still room for improvement of these systems and their associated component parts, such as the wireless transmitters and base units. By increasing the integrity of a particular system, and improving the ease of using the system, it is possible to increase user confidence and satisfaction. It is therefore a general goal of the present invention to provide a remote monitoring system for monitoring distress or alert situations which provides a number of advantages over known systems and devices, and increase the ease of use, integrity and user-friendliness of the system.
Thus, a first object of the present invention is to provide a highly energy-efficient, low-cost, wireless transmitter unit, actutable by a person in distress, which includes means for saving battery power in a standby mode, so the batteries do not have to be changed as often.
A second object is to provide a wireless transmitter unit that includes a low voltage detector circuit that continuously monitors battery voltage, and automatically generates a low battery condition signal on an intermittent basis, to indicate when the battery should be changed.
A third object is to provide a wireless transmitter which has encoding means for positively and inexpensively assigning a transmitter identification code to a given transmitter unit through the physical elements within the unit. Our intent is to provide a transmitter unit that can easily be programmed, using physically settable encoding means, to one of eight distinct "channels", with each channel being at the same frequency, but having a different serial digital code, so as to represent a different class or type of condition.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a base unit which has two modes of establishing a telephone link-up, to increase the likelihood of contacting the central station under adverse phone system conditions.
A fifth object is to provide for audio and visual verification at the base unit that the desired communications link with a central station has been established, and that the requested help is being summoned.
A sixth object is provide a personal monitoring system with a base unit having a caller ID circuit and a local memory for storing phone numbers so that the base unit can selectively recognize calls from the central station or specified other phones, and selectively permit certain actions. The permitted actions include reprogramming the base unit, and taking or not taking certain action, such as cutting off or refraining from cutting off certain incoming calls, all in accordance with information stored in the local memory.
A seventh object is to provide for a simple, easily understood user interface on the base unit for the foregoing caller ID function, which may include a speaker and an optional alphanumeric display.
An eighth object is to provide an AC-powered base unit with a modem and line-seize capability, and which also has a back-up battery, with circuitry for monitoring for AC line fail and low-battery conditions, and with means for saving battery power.
A ninth object of the present invention is provide a radio-receiving base unit with self-test capability, including test and cancel buttons, so that a user or service technician can verify correct operation of all critical aspects of the personal monitoring system.
A tenth object is to provide signal means for informing a user that the microcomputer of the base unit is not ready to respond, but instead requires service.